Make my day
by GeorgeGray
Summary: It was a beautiful day for Levy, a tiring one for Lucy and a day absolutely like any other for Lisanna. So, how come that now Levy has to look after a ruby-eyed dog, Lucy must convince a hyperactive, pink-haired child to behave and Lisanna, well she's just trying to avoid troubles. See how a tiny blue creature can make this girls' day take an unexpected turn. GaLe, NaLu, Bixanna.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello!**

**This is my firs fanfic ever, so please be kind :-)**

**It will be three or four chapters long, first one GaLe then NaLu and Bixanna.**

**I do not own Fairy Tail or its characters, Hiro Mashima does (but sometimes I wish he did not). Nor do I own the book that Levy reads, which if anyone is interested, is "Man meets Dog" by K. Lorenz.**

* * *

It was a beautiful day in Magnolia, with "beautiful" being somewhat of an understatement.

A warm and inviting sun was shining in a perfectly clear sky that was an impossible shade of bright blue and spotted with just a few fluffy white clouds.

Despite the late September, the temperature was quite mild so that in the flowerbeds several plants were still in full bloom.

Some trees still sported a lush green crown while others were softening their colours into warmer and autumnal tones, making the park of Magnolia look like a painting created by a particularly gifted artist.

A good part of the city's entire population had decided to make the most of the almost-perfect weather and had flocked in the park.

Birds were chirping, children were laughing and shouting, street performers were singing or playing, couples were flirting and Life in general was happening and trying to look at its busiest.

Sitting on a bench shaded by a large oak, a duffel bag full of books by her feet, a petite blunette was completely absorbed in her reading, happily unaware of the ruckus Life was making.

For Levy, _that_ was a really beautiful day. Her boys were away on a mission on their own, the rent was paid and she had spent the entire morning hopping from a bookshop to another, skimming through countless books until she deemed one of them an item she totally must have. By midday her bag contained twelve new books of the most varied sizes and with topics that ranged from the last best-selling romance novel to a manual of magic recipes.

Then, vaguely aware of the good weather, she had bought a couple of sandwiches and decided to eat them in the park: she was halfway through one of them when she started reading one of her purchases.

The book was a rather old essay written by a famous ethologist. It contained his speculations about the nature and evolution of dogs and reflections about the relationship they had established with humans. Despite the scientific topic, it was a rather easy read because the author described everything, from the origins of those animals to advice for owners and breeders, in a light-hearted and personal yet always deeply insightful way, illustrating his points with anecdotes of dogs he himself owned or knew.

Levy loved all animal in general, but she had a soft spot for dogs (not that she was going to admit it to Lily or to any of the other Exceed), maybe because she could easily relate with them. She was aware that cat personalities were as versatile as human ones, but she was also convinced that dogs on average were more sociable, interactive and accepting, all traits she felt she had in common with the animals.

She smiled, gazing up dreamily at the sky and blushing slightly while she thought that, on the other hand, _he_ was totally a cat person. It was not so much about the partner he had chosen, but rather his personality: his way of being introverted, aloof, independent as well as his alarming low rate of social interaction were all things that inclined more towards a certain kind of "catness".

She sighed. If only he could be as open about his feelings as a dog was... maybe she could finally understand what he thought about her. He was so difficult to figure out. Or maybe _she _was the one who should have tried to be more like a dog and tell him clearly the feelings she was harbouring towards him.

Looking down to resume her reading she startled, letting out a little yelp: there was something resting lightly on the open pages.

It was a tiny thing, no more than a couple of inches long. It had a tapering and flattened body whose colour was a mixture of silvery and pale blue, with dark blue stripes going from the small head to the long tail.

From the body extend four legs (or where they fins?) each of which branched out into six rayed, finger-like appendages. It stood a bit like a seal, with its head raised and two big and completely black eyes fixed on her.

She had _absolutely_ no idea of what the thing was. She stayed still, unsure of what to do, simply staring wide-eyed at it.

It stared back.

"Uhm..." she said cautiously after a long lull "...he-hello? And who you might be, little... ehm... fellow?" she finished, uncertainty clear in her voice.

The strange thing blinked. However, admittedly, in a very friendly way.

Levy frowned. "You are rather peculiar, you know? I have never seen anything like you before..." she said leaning forward to have a better look at it. Having got over the initial shock her natural curiosity had been aroused and she was finding the animal more fascinating with every passing seconds.

The thing was still quiet, not moving, and she was about to raise a hand to try touching it when a shadow appeared over the book and its little occupant.

"Oi, Shrimp" a gruff voice said.

She jerked her head up and found herself looking at the imposing form of the shadow's owner. "G-Gajeel!" she exclaimed surprised. He crossed his arms over his chest and raised a studded eyebrow questioningly.

"What the heck are ya doing?" he asked in a tone that suggested that the answer he was expecting was bound to be either crazy or disturbing. Or both.

"I'm not doing anything creepy, thank you very much!" she rebuffed, slightly offended "I was just trying to figure out what this strange creature was..."

"What creature?"

"This one!"

She held up the open book for him and pointed at the little blue thing still calmly sitting (could one call that sitting?) on its pages and which had now turned its head to look at the newcomer.

Gajeel leaned down.

"Isn't it just a caterpillar? Ya better squash it" he said, frowning and squinting his eyes to look at the thing.

"It's _not _a caterpillar and I'm definitely _not _going to harm it!" she protested indignantly "And even if it was I would not simply _squash _a living being for no reason. Look, can't you see that..."

She was cut off when the tiny creature unexpectedly leaped from the book onto Gajeel's face.

Then bit him on the nose.

* * *

Lily was sitting on a stool by the guild's bar counter, unhappily munching on a kiwi. Not that he was especially dissatisfied with his kiwi, not at all. He _loved _kiwis, but he was eating his seventh one and was starting to feel that you can only eat so much when waiting for someone to show up. And he had been waiting long enough.

Gajeel was late. Excessively late. Lily had learned that he could not expect anything remotely close the words "on time" from his dragonslayer partner, but now he was surpassing himself.

"Don't worry, I'm sure he is ok" Lisanna said, smiling sweetly from behind the counter. She was substituting her sister, who was away in the capital with Erza and the Master to deal with some council-related business. She had evidently misunderstood his frequent glances toward the main entrance.

"Thank you Lisanna, but sincerely I'm not so much concerned than annoyed. Gajeel is a nasty fellow, perfectly capable of taking care of himself but, apparently, not of sticking to the schedules" Lily sighed, earning an amused giggle from the girl.

"Juvia thinks that Gajeel is not the type of man to leave a friend waiting without a good reason" said the blue haired girl. She was sitting two stool away from the black cat, sipping on a colourful cocktail. On her other side a bare chested Gray was being forced in a drinking contest by Cana. "Any minute now and he'll be crossing those doors, Juvia is sure about it".

Lily offered her a thankful but sceptical smile.

Two second later the doors pretty much exploded, making everyone nearly fall off their chairs (or, in some cases, tables) when a very upset Levy burst into the guildhall with a large dog in tow.

Well, actually it was more the other way round, with Levy being dragged effortlessly and almost absent-mindedly by the animal. Moreover the dog was not large, it was HUGE.

The beast's muscular and massive body was giving off an aura of strength and power. Its short, hard and thick coat was raven black with rust-coloured markings on the cheeks, muzzle and legs. It had a broad and rounded head, triangular ears and ruby almond-shaped eyes that were glistening with pure, unadulterated malice.

Every guild member instantly and unconsciously took a step (or rolled) backwards. Lily's fur stood up automatically and he let out a low and menacing hiss.

Lucy was the first one to recover from the astonishment the apparition had caused.

"Levy! My goodness, what happened to you?!" she cried, standing from the table she was sitting at with Natsu and Happy (who was now clinging, shivering, on Natsu's face) and running towards her friend...only to stop a few steps away from Levy's panting self when the dog turned its head to cast an evil glance at the blonde mage.

The blunette was bent double, one hand on her right knee the other holding onto the dog's leash like her life depended on it. She looked worse for wear: her trademark bandanna had glided down around the neck, tufts of her blue hair were standing dishevelled in every direction and she was sweating profusely.

"I...almost...couldn't keep...up...with...him" she answered between gasps, trying to catch her breath.

"That I can see...but who is this...ehm, new friend of yours?"

"Ga-Gajeel..."

"You named your pet like that?" Lucy asked with a frown, still keeping a safety distance. She knew about her friend's feeling towards the iron dragonslayer, heck the whole guild knew by now, but that was going way overboard.

"No!" Levy replied, waving a hand frantically to dismiss the idea "Of course not! What I mean is... This is Gajeel! He's been turned into a dog".

"What?! Hey, Metalbrain, how the hell did you managed to end up like this?" mocked Natsu approaching. He sported several scratches on his face from Happy's previous "face hug" and said Exceed was now cowering under the table.

As Levy began to describe what had happened in the park all the other guildmembers started to slowly inching closer to the group, not noticing the dog's head moving slowly but deliberately to scan the crowd.

"...and then I managed to stop panicking long enough to cast a "solid script: leash", put it on him and take him here. It took me a half an hour to convince him to move from the park, and when he did he broke into a run up until here!" she finished, casting an angry glance to the animal.

"Gajeel being stubborn and not helpful? That's a first" joked Lucy "But, really, I don't think I have ever seen or heard about the animal you described".

"Should we try to lift the spell? Or is it better if, for the moment, we simply try to find out something about the mysterious creature?" Lily said. He had joined the group and was sitting on Lisanna's shoulder, still a little wary. He was engaged in a staring contest with his partner.

Levy felt the dog's body stiffen and twitch imperceptibly at the sound of the Exceed's voice, but she was not quick enough to release her hold on the leash before the dog-Gajeel jumped, his jaws snapping shut where Lily was seconds before (having flown away in the nick of time). Missing his target, he landed with his full body weight on Lisanna, knocking her over.

"Men don't do this to ladies!" cried Elfman outraged, rushing to help his little sister.

Meanwhile Levy, unable to contain the dog's momentum, lost her balance and landed face first on the floor with a shriek.

Chaos erupted.

Some mages ran away, others tried to launch themselves on the dog to contain or trap it, but were caught in one of Natsu's attack ("_what you're doing, idiot Flamebrain?! Want to pick a fight?_"), resulting in the start of another Ft brawl.

The usual choir of battle cries and curses this time was accompanied with the furious barks and howls of dog-Gajeel, who was still debating whether to go after the flying cat or biting into the brawling crowd.

"Whatever we decide to do" Lucy said helping Levy getting up from the floor "We better be quick".

* * *

"I wish the Raijinshū were here, we could have used Freed's help" groaned Levy. She was sitting cross legged on the guild's library floor, surrounded by piles and piles of the books that she and Lucy had picked out from the shelves, quickly scanning trough them with her Gale Force reading glasses.

From a nearby table, where she was similarly looking for clues with her own pair of magical reading glasses, the blonde mage snorted "Well, at least Evergreen could have turned that wretched thing into a nice garden ornament"

"Hey!"

"Sorry sorry..."

They remained in silence for several minutes, absorbed in their tasks. The room was quiet, save for some faint noises coming from the guildhall. It seemed that the brawl was still going on.

"Oh, that's it, I found it! I found something!" Levy suddenly cried. She rose from the floor excitedly and joined Lucy at the table to let her see the book she was examining. The spread open pages were showing a drawing of a very peculiar blue creature.

"Glaucus Caelestis Majorem" the blond read underneath the picture "_This is_ what you saw?! Levy this is one of the most powerful and rare magical creatures that exist on Earthland! No one has seen them up close for centuries so that it was thought that they were extinct by now..."

Levy stared shocked at the pages: she knew about those creatures, she had read about them somewhere, but she did not know they looked like this. She could not believe it, they were almost mythical and she had had one of them mere inches away from her nose!

However, something wasn't right.

"It doesn't make any sense, though" she said puzzled "Glaucus are very shy, how come it was in one of the most crowded places of all Magnolia? Also, they don't like to interact with humans but when they do it's usually with good intentions: helpful beings don't randomly turn people into dogs".

"Well, maybe it misunderstood the situation, thought that Gajeel was threatening you and helped you in its own way..." suggested Lucy.

"Umm I don't think that's a plausible reason. Gajeel may look scary, but in that moment he wasn't being aggressive towards me. Ok, to be fair, he mistook the Glaucus for a caterpillar and wanted to squash it, so _this_ may have counted as "aggressive". But still he couldn't have managed to do it even he had tried to...no mage could...and the Glaucus must have known it too".

There was a knock on the door and both girls looked up to see Lisanna enter the room.

"Hey girls, how is your research going? Did you find any clues?"

"Well, we might just have found something but..." started the blond mage.

"Oh, that's great!" the white haired one cut her off in a fake cheerful tone. One of the veins in her head was pulsing. "Listen, Levy, I think it's better if you come to the hall, like, right now or blood may start to flow" she finished menacingly, effectively silencing the blunette who was about to complain.

When the trio reached the hall, everything was in shambles, which was not anything out of the ordinary in its own. Members of Fairy Tail were used to the sight of broken pieces of furniture scattered all over the place and bodies lying unconscious in the most absurd positions. (Natsu and Elfman had managed to knock each other out while pummelling each other in the face and were now tangled in an awkward hug, still standing even though they had already fainted)

This time, however, the scene had some significant additions.

Cana was by the counter holding her deck of cards with two fingers and looking at it disgustedly as a thick thread of drool dripped from it.

Lily and Happy were holding into one of the ceiling beams, were they had taken refuge, with their claws unsheathed and fur standing.

In a corner by the main entrance, Juvia was a black mass of rage, crouching by an unconscious and naked Gray who sported red teeth marks on one of his butt-cheeks. She was looking with eyes that glowed with vengeful intent towards the centre of the room, were dog-Gajeel was lying down amidst all the rubble, smugly munching on something.

Lucy and Levy were staring at the scene speechless with their mouths hanging open.

"He has to go. Levy you have to take him somewhere else, even the kennel, but he can't stay here any longer" Lisanna said.

"But...but...I can't take him there, he's _human_! He's one of our nakama, that would be too cruel" the blunette protested "Look, just leave him be until I find something to..."

"He's not human, he's a monster!" screamed a crying Max, suddenly showing up. He waved a short stick in front of her nose "He killed her!"

It took her several seconds to actually understand what he was saying, but finally she realized what the stick was: the upper half of a broom's broken handle...and the lower part...

She looked disbelieving at the large dog still shredding his "prey" and she could have sworn he _smirked _back.

* * *

**Ok, so this chapter is actually split into two parts and that was the first one...I hope you liked it!**

**All kinds of feedbacks are highly appreciated: reviews, comments, constructive criticism about the story so far or my writing...anything!**

**English is not my mother tongue so this fic is bound to be filled with errors, both in the grammar and the way I used some words. I'm sorry! I'm here to improve so, please, point everything out, it will only make me happy.**

**Just, please, try to be polite. Nobody likes haters ;-D**

**P.S.**

**I really really hope that this story offended no cat-lovers or dog-lovers. If you are one of them and feel that I have trash talked about your favourite animal, please do know it was not intended, I like both cats and dogs (I owned both).**

**P.P.S.**

**The tiny magical creature is based on an animal that actually exist. Prices will be given to those who can guess its identity ;-D**

**Sooo...until the next chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Aaaand here it is the conclusion of this GaLe chapter!**

**Enjoy**

* * *

Getting Gajeel to her room in the Fairy Hill Dorm was by no mean easier than it had been dragging him to the guild that afternoon. If anything, it was worse.

Firstly, this time she had to carry not one but _two _bags full of books: since she basically had been evicted from the guild's library, she was forced to stuff a backpack with all the books she was planning to consult and carry them home together with her morning purchases.

Secondly, dog-Gajeel was as stubborn and unhelpful as he was in his human form. He dragged her left and right, blatantly ignoring her attempts to proceed in a straight line, and stopped every few steps in the middle of the road to sniff at random spots for minutes and minutes and minutes, refusing to move forward even just an inch until his nose was thoroughly satisfied.

To save him from the wrath of their guildmates she had decided to take him with her to the female dorm, since Lily, his _cat _Lily, had refused resolutely to let him go back to the house they shared.

By the time they finally reached her room, the day was darkening and she was dead tired. Things were definitely not going as she had planned when she first started what was supposed to be a beautiful day.

"Ok, here we are" she said ushering him in and closing the door behind them. She threw the bags unceremoniously on the floor of her small living room (which was kind of an extension of her several already-filled-to-the-brim bookcases) then, she was suddenly struck by a thought and she froze on the spot.

She had just let Gajeel, her long-time crush, the person she was probably in love with, into her room.

She glanced sideways at him.

Well, that definitely was not how she had imagined it happening. And, heaven only knew how many times she had pictured it in her mind, maybe a million times, each one portraying a different scenery and developments...but, admittedly, never like this.

For instance, she had never imagined him to be sniffing around her room, at least not _literally_.

For a couple of hours she casted spell after spell on him in a vain attempt to revert him back to his original form, but only managing to briefly turn him turquoise. She was not entirely sure that this was due to the charms being ineffective or to Gajeel's lack of cooperation: he kept on stepping out of rune circles, scratching away with his hind legs every enchanted item/ingredient/written spell she put on him and trying to eat her magic pen.

Giving up for the moment, she settled instead for resuming her investigations on the Glaucus, after eating a quick supper.

She did not mean for it to be quick. Actually, she would have preferred to enjoy it without any rush, but she discovered that having an impossible large dog (who can easily reach the table top with his big and slobbery muzzle) stare intently at the content of you plate after he has gulped down his own meal is a very good incentive to not to dawdle too much. That is, if you want to actually be able to eat something.

By the time she had finished washing the dishes and started sorting again trough the books searching for some clues, Gajeel, apparently sated and satisfied, had found a carpet to his liking, circled around a spot a few times before lying down and went to sleep. After a little while, Levy could hear him snoring lightly.

She smiled, looking at him with a soft gaze: now that he was not making life impossible for her, she had to admit that he was pretty cute... so much that she was almost tempted to pet him.

Almost, but she was not going to do it. Instead, she slowly and carefully (as not to make any noise and literally wake up the beast) scooped up some clean clothes from her closet and tiptoed to the bathroom, determined to take advantage of the unexpected quiet moment to have a long and well deserved shower.

When she re-emerged in the room a little while later, scrubbing vigorously her head with a towel to dry her damp locks, she was feeling a lot better: her mood had definitely improved and she was a lot more motivated on her task to help Gajeel. Despite his behaviour up until now, she reasoned, the situation he was stuck into had to be the most difficult for him.

Then her gaze landed on her living room and her mind registered the horrific scene.

He must have woken up while she was under the shower.

He must have felt bored.

And he must have decided that the best way to entertain himself was to take it out on her beloved books.

It had been a massacre.

The entire floor was littered with pieces of paper...no, not simple paper but _torn pages_. One of the bookcase had been knocked over, falling with impressive accuracy on the only plant that had managed to survive Levy's cares (or lack of them) and crushing it, scattering dirt and broken china all over the place.

She scanned the room, searching for the culprit, and found him sitting calmly on her couch; busy trying to bite off the back cover of what had once been a quite expensive tome on rune magic.

"You...you..." she hissed. As angry as she was she could barely speak. Gajeel lifted his head, seemingly guessing from the tone of her voice that maybe, just maybe, he had made a bad move. He tried to feign ignorance.

"You MONSTER!" she shouted, reaching the couch with quick and angry strides.

She tried to pry away what remained of the book from the dog's jaws, but he was holding it in an iron grip.

"Let-it-go!" Levy said, still yanking. Gajeel started to wag his tail, happy with the tug of war.

With a final pull, the book's cover gave out and snapped in two. The girl stumbled back, almost losing her balance, but managed to remain on her feet. She looked wide-eyed at the half in her hand and smacked it angrily on the dog's muzzle.

He growled menacingly.

"No! Don't you dare! Don't you dare do it Gajeel Redfox, you understand me?!" she said pointing an angry finger at him.

She was not thinking at this point. Had she been calmer, she may have realized that the animal in front of her was huge, powerful and fierce, something to be afraid of...but she was now beyond furious.

And that made her the Boss.

The growl died in the dog's throat and he seemed to recoil: he flattened his ears and lowered the head, his sad ruby eyes fixed on the floor.

"How could you? You...Bad Dog! Come down there right away!" she commanded and in any other occasion she would have been surprised if not truly shocked, to see him actually comply and curl up on the carpet.

"What is _wrong_ with you? Don't you understand the situation you are in? I'm trying to help you, for heaven's sake, but you are making things impossible for me. Stop being such a...such a jerk!"

She was reaching her limit, she needed to cool down and she didn't want to even have to _look_ at him for a minute longer so she caught him by the scruff and tried to drag him to the bathroom.

Since, even in this form, he was _way_ heavier than she was, he didn't budge an inch. He was displaying that passive resistance dogs usually reserve for bath-time and it was like trying to move a small mountain, albeit a very furry one.

After a while, she resorted to basically wrap him up in the carpet like a giant spring roll and drag him across the floor into the bathroom.

"Now... stay there and think about what you did!" Levy panted, leaning against the door and locking him in. She took a couple of deep breaths to cool off and then started to clean up the mess, pointedly ignoring the pitiful whining coming from the other side.

She kept on ignoring it, focusing instead on straightening the bookcase and putting its scattered content back into its place, even when it became a mixture of yelps and worried barks.

While she was collecting the torn papers, flattening them with her hand and using her magic to meld together the broken pieces, the barks had become louder and more frequent.

It was not until deep, long, howls had started to rattle the walls that she had to stop trying to determine which books could still be fixed and which ones instead were beyond saving and do something about the noise.

And that was just because her fellows dorm-mates had started to scream things like "Shut up, werewolf!", "We are not in a forest" or "Someone silence it or I'm gonna turn it into a pair of slippers".

"Ok, ok, I got it...I GOT IT" she said throwing the door open. A pair of ruby eyes looked at her. "Point made, Gajeel. You can come out, just stop being so noisy!"

The dog trotted in the living room like nothing had happened. He seemed to have regained its confidence and looked like he owned the place.

Levy rolled her eyes and ignored him, resuming her task. A rasping sound made her jerk her head alarmed towards the main door. Dog-Gajeel was standing in front of it, scratching the surface with his right paw and leaving a series of four perfectly horizontal and horrendously evident marks on the wood.

"Oh, no, you must be joking! There's no way we are going to go out" she said as the dog started to sniff on the lower corner of the door "It's late, I'm tired and...wait!" she cried hurriedly.

He had raised his hind leg.

Levy was not a sporty person, she was well aware of it.

It was not like she hated the whole idea of "keeping fit" or that she was lazy, well not _excessively_ lazy.

Hey, she was having training sessions with Gajeel twice a week and those were really tough and tiring! (although she had to admit that the main reason she had agreed to attend wasn't so much to do a bit of exercise but to spend some time alone with a shirtless and sweating iron dragonslayer. She had eyes, and so what? Sue her).

The real problem was that there were way too many books in the world and humans were not made to read while working out. It was not _really_ her fault if she was practically forced to spend her free time indoor with her nose in a book and her mind flying to other worlds.

So she didn't really know how to cope with the fact that she was now outside, definitely bookless, strolling through the desert street of Magnolia.

At night.

Walking her dog.

She shook her head and frowned. No, it was not her dog, she reminded herself, it was Gajeel and what they were doing was just weird. Not weird _per se_, but there was something fundamentally wrong in having to take your crush out for a walk, with a leash, to let him do his business. She had to avert her gaze every time because... yeah, she loved him, but that was asking too much.

She sighed sadly, dog-Gajeel trotting merrily by her side and occasionally yanking her one way or the other, every time he caught the trail of a particularly interesting smell.

She was hating all this.

Maybe she was not really a dog person as she thought she was. Or maybe, and that was way worse, she just wasn't a Gajeel person.

Were all dog like him? She doubted it. She had seen many trained and well-behaved ones obediently follow their masters around. No, the stubbornness, the smugness, the so evident pleasure in seeing the others squirm...that all screamed Gajeel.

_No, I'm not being fair...or honest here_ Levy thought to herself, waiting for Gajeel to finish the deep examination of a dark alley's entrance.

_In his human form, I did not even think of those as defects...but just as parts of his personality. There is so much more to him than that. Sure, he may come out as gruff and rude...he definitely is, but since he joined Fairy Tail everyone could see that he started to soften. He has already showed his caring and protective side so many times, I should know it better than anyone._

She sighed, thinking that it was not right to like just the bits that were "positive" in a person, that was too easy. One must love the whole package... and Levy, admittedly, did.

She blushed lightly, a small smile appearing on her face, and looked down to the dog. Her smile dropped and she felt a dreadful feeling creep up on her.

He was still as a statue, completely alert, his powerful muscles tensed underneath the skin. She followed his gaze to a couple of trash cans a little further inside the alley...on top of which was perched a large, shabby, evil-looking tomcat, its tail whipping the air in nervous twitches.

"Oh no, not again!" she pleaded. In that exact same moment, the cat hissed and leaped past the alley entrance, breaking into a run.

Dog-Gajeel immediately went after it, barking furiously and yanking at the leash. The petite blunette tried to keep a hold onto the dog, but like last time she did not even manage to hinder him at all. She fell down, scraping her knees and hands and losing her grip on the leash.

"Gajeel!" she cried desperately after the large, black shape running away in great leaps. In a couple of seconds, it was lost among the night's shadows.

An hour and a half later Levy McGarden was sure she hated Gajeel Redfox's guts. She despised him and did not like him one bit. All that mushy talk about loving him and whatnot could go down the drain for all she cared.

It was the middle of the night, she was _exhausted_ and her feet were sore. She had searched for him _everywhere_, looking in every nook and cranny of almost the entire city. Heck, she could bet she had walked through the whole Magnolia twice, that day!

She had called for him to come back a million times: pleadingly, angrily, with a commanding tone or a forgiving one...until her voice went hoarse and some angry idiots tried to shower her with cold water from a window, shouting "_Silence_!".

Now she was practically crawling up the dark and deserted streets, all hope lost, about to quit this damned chase. Yes, she should do it. She should just forget about that stupid dog...that _stupid Gajeel_...and go home, leaving him to fend for himself.

_Let's see if he could manage, ah!_

Except the she knew he could not. He wasn't a powerful mage anymore, he was a dog...no, worst, he was a human turned dog who could do nothing against a dark wizard. Right now he was as helpless as, well, an animal, and she was the one who was supposed to look after him.

He had saved her so many times...she could not go home and leave him alone. Not now that, for once, it was her turn to protect him.

Yet she had failed him, she thought as a single warm tear glided down her cheek. She had lost him. She was supposed to love animals, she was supposed to love _him_, but she had messed everything up.

She felt her shoes scrunch on some gravel and looked around, taking in her surroundings. In her wandering she had unconsciously ended up in the park were all had started.

It was so different from how it had been in the morning.

The park was empty. All was quiet, deadly still, save for the rustling of leaves and the occasional cracks from the trunks of the trees.

Despite the warm sun that had shone in the morning, the night was cold and damp. Shivering, she walked further along the pathway barely visible in the dark, and reached a bench near an oak tree.

It was the very same one she had sat on just few hour ago, she realized. It was now barely illuminated by a lonely streetlight that was throwing a feeble light around, only succeeding to create big and eerie shadows out of every silhouette.

Levy sat down, lifted up her legs to circle her knees with her hands and started crying, sobbing hard and uncontrollably.

Of course, she was feeling sad and lonely, but more than anything she was angry. At Gajeel for running away from her to heavens know where. At the Glaucus because it had created this huge mess and then just disappeared. Above all, she was angry at herself for being so powerless and totally not up to the situation.

Her head resting on her knee, she let the tears flow ignoring the biting cold and the sore muscles. She did not know for how long she stayed there, enclosed on her own pain...she had completely lost track of time.

She felt it before she could see it: it was like a giant mass of raging fury approaching at the speed of light. Levy lifted her head and what she saw made her blood run cold in her veins: an impossibly large shadow was running towards her, two pair of blood-red eyes glistening with murderous intent. He looked nothing short of a hellhound.

He leaped when he was just a few feet away from the bench and she shrieked, terrified, curling up on herself and covering her head with her arms. But he wasn't aiming at her. She felt the airflow over her head as he basically _flew _above her to land on the other side. Only then, Levy heard a strangled gasp and, shortly after, cries of pain mixed with Gajeel's furious barks and growls.

She spun around just in time to see a human shape free itself from the dog's jaws and sprint away, running for its life. The dog spat out a piece of torn sleeve and turned his head to the fugitive, ready to follow.

"No, Gajeel!" she cried and without thinking she launched herself over the bench, tackling him.

The dog started and tried to break free from her grasp, but she hold on for dear life. It was only when she felt diminish his squirming that she dared to release him. He started to sniff her all over and when he convinced himself that she was ok he sat down on his hind legs, wagging his tail happily and drawing a crescent shape on the gravel.

She was kneeling on the ground in front of him, completely dazed. It was he, and no mistakes (not that she had had any doubt, not even for a second).

He looked fine.

Moreover, he had come back for her.

The man must have used a silence spell or maybe she was weeping so hard she just hadn't heard him approaching from behind to attack her, maybe kill her, if the thin, silvery knife that lay now forgotten beside them was any indication. But, like any other time, he had been there for her, had protected her.

That was so like him.

"Of course you saved me" she whispered scratching him behind the ears, a thankful smile blooming on her lips "it's you we are talking about. You are always there when I need you"

Therefore, because she was happy and relieved, she leaned forward and hugged him, completely ignoring the little blue dot that flashed at the corner of her eyes.

"I love you, Gajeel" she said squeezing him, caressing his velvety, increasingly softer fur... and wasn't he getting bigger?

She let go of him, jerking backwards, only to see a shock-faced Gajeel in a very human form, knelt down in front of her.

"Gajeel, it's you!" she cried happily, cupping his face in her hands to look at him in the eyes, scanning them "You turned back...but...but _how_?"

"The heck if I know, Shrimp" he replied gruffly, a little taken aback by the sudden proximity of the petite blunette "I don't even know how I ended up like that in the first place"

She giggled and was about to tell him everything when she realized the position they were in... and what she had just told him.

She blushed furiously, snatching her hands away from his face. "G-Gajeel" she stuttered embarrassed to the bone.

"Yeah?"

"You...uhm...don't happen to remember _exactly_ what was going on while you were transformed, do you? I mean, I bet it's all a hazy memory in your head and..."

He chuckled and put his hand on her shoulders, gently pulling her towards him.

"I love you too, Shrimp" he whispered in her ear, hugging her.

For a moment Levy forgot how to breathe, her mind completely blank and unable to register what he had just said. Then his words sunk in and she practically melt in his warm embrace, all the trials that had happened during that strange day long forgotten. Right now she could easily have been the happiest person on the entire planet.

They stayed like this, holding each other, for long moments, until Levy pulled back and tilted her head, bright brown eyes locked into ruby ones.

"Well now" she said with a mischievous smirk "Let's talk about the books you own me".

* * *

**Ok, that's it for this first two-part chapter. Comments? Suggestion? Criticism? Feel free to express yourselves in a review! ;-D ;-D (ok, ok...but I had to try!)**

**Next up: Lucy returns to her apartment hoping in some well-deserved relax only to find it completely ransacked by Natsu and Happy. What will happen when a certain little blue thing decides to help her scold her pink-haired teammate?**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello everyone!**

**That's the first part of the second chapter, totally NaLu.**

**I still don't own Fairy Tail or its characters, Hiro Mashima does and I wish he could read minds and reveal Acnologia to be Natsu's father, because that's the headcanon I came up with today.**

**I also owe Ebony a little Glaucus plushie because she/he (sorry!) guessed correctly the little creature's identity. Good job!**

* * *

Lucy was so tired she could barely walk.

Dragging her exhausted self across the streets of Magnolia, she strived to put one foot after the other, barely managing to stay awake.

Heck, she was pretty much sleepwalking home.

It had been a hell of a day, which had come after an even worse week. She had followed her team on mission after mission, one crazier than the other.

Fist Erza had decided to help out with the pest control for the annual livestock fair in Psedònim, a big town six hour away from Magnolia that was built, heavens only know why, right beside a swamp. Turned out that the "pest" the residents needed help controlling was a species of giant carnivorous slugs who could spit acid slime and had elected Lucy as their favourite target. She had ended up doing laps around the swamp like a marathon runner, chased by the hideous monsters while her caring teammates used her as a bait to attract the creatures.

Then Gray had accepted a request from the Major of Tudra, a little village that stood on top of a mountain's sharp peak. They had to trek for a whole day on a small, rocky and incredibly steep pathway that climbed up the mountainside. By the time they had reached the damn place Lucy had blisters on the soil of her feet, every muscles in her legs ached, she was frozen, out of breath and in short not in the best shape to deal with an invasion of Vulcans.

Lastly, Natsu had signed them for a surveillance job in which they just had to escort a cargo from Magnolia to Baluna Bay and protect it from the attacks of pirates. Of course he had completely missed the tiny little detail that if the request contained the words "bay" and "pirates" it meant that for the whole trip they had to be _on a boat_, with no Wendy to help him overcome his motion sickness. The final result was far from pleasant.

And as if the missions alone were not enough of a hassle, every single time their wages were cut at least by a half because they messed everything up or overdid it: roasting half of a cattle heard, set on _fire_ and then _freeze_ a town hall and even getting sick on the enemies (and allies alike).

Adding up the cost of the damages they caused, the rewards barely managed to cover up their travel expenses, resulting in Lucy still owning two months' worth of rent to her landlady.

So she had decided to go on a solo mission: no team to split the compensation with and, more importantly, no Natsu and his destructive force. Just her, dealing with the client's request...possibly a very easy and relaxing one.

That morning she had gone very early to the guild, sneaking in quietly and stealthy as to avoid stumbling upon her teammates. Truth to be told, she was quite sure they would not have been there at that time: Gray had gone on a mission with Juvia the day before, Erza was having an early training session with Lily and it was waaaay too early for Natsu and Happy to show up.

Casting furtive glances around, she had made her way up to the request board and scanned it until she had found a very promising one: being the spokesmodel for the opening party of a new club downtown. She only had to look pretty, smile and entertain the guests with some basic display of magical abilities.

She had actually sneered. That was really some easy money. That job was practically tailored around her. She was quite confident in her looks and in the skills of her Stellar Spirits.

But when she had reached the address stated in the ad, she had discovered that the job had already been taken by Lamia Scale's Sherry.

Her disappointment had subsided a little when the owner had offered her another job for a lesser amount of jewels. Of course the sturdy looking guy must have realized that two beauties were better than one, she had thought accepting the offer, only to find herself stuck as a handyman (or was it a handywoman?) for the whole day.

So while Sherry was busy attracting customers with her magic or entertaining them with smiles and small talks, Lucy had had to move crates and crates of bottles, prepare a ton of snacks, wash the dishes, clean the toilets and even extract a drunk and passed out guest from under one of the tables.

When she had finally ended her shift and collected her pay she could have murdered someone. Maybe Sherry.

Or the stupid club's owner.

Possibly both.

She groaned: that was just her luck. Even without her idiotic team she had failed to have a for once normal, not body-wracking mission. Now all she wanted was to get to her apartment, have a good and long bath with lots of foam, a quick dinner and then go straight to sleep.

The blonde mage felt a little tinge of guilt, suddenly remembering that she had promised Levy a new chapter of the novel she was writing, but tired as she was there was no way she could even _hold_ a pen.

A mischievous smile appeared on her lips. She was pretty sure that her blue haired friend would not hold it against her, as she was now too engrossed with a certain iron dragonslayer.

A little more than week had passed since the "little accident" with the Glaucus.

Lucy had wanted to _hug_ the little creature when, the very next day after the mayhem created by dog-Gajeel, a very human dragonslayer had walked into the guild hall hand in hand with the petite solid script mage, his usual scowl doing nothing to disguise his awkwardness.

The whole guild had needed just two seconds to process the unusual sight before erupting into loud cheers and howls. As everyone surrounded the new couple, Lucy was the first one to reach her friend and congratulate her.

Levy was _beaming_, a big smile lighting up her face despite the furious blush, she was the picture of happiness. She had managed to tell briefly Lucy what had happened the previous night before being pulled into a group of squealing and almost-too-hyped-up girls hungry for gossip.

From his part, Gajeel was doing his best to ward off anyone attempting to congratulate him. Obviously with little success.

He had shouted for everyone to go to hell, looking angry and very much ready to punch someone in the face, but the other mages were determined to offer him friendly pat on the shoulder and knowing smirks.

When Macao and Wakaba had tried to give him some "valuable advices" in how to handle a night with his girl he had roared so many curses that even Cana flinched.

The only unhappy ones were, unsurprisingly, Levy's fellow Shadow Gear members.

Jet and Droy had cried when they had returned from the mission and discovered that their precious teammate had been stolen by the dreadful iron mage.

Truth to be told, Lucy had to admit that they took the blow pretty well.

She had expected them to be a lot more against the new couple, trying to talk Levy out of it, maybe even doing something stupid like challenging Gajeel or asking the blunette to choose between their friendship and her lover.

Instead they just cried (ok, they cried _a lot_) but in the end respected Levy's decision. Maybe it was because they were over their crush for her, or maybe they had come to know and somewhat appreciate the dragonslayer enough to deem him worthy of Levy's affection.

Lucy couldn't tell... as she couldn't exactly rule out the fact that maybe the real reason had something to do with the menacing glares Juvia and Lily casted them every time they tried to annoy the couple.

'Having a boyfriend must be nice...' she thought wearily. Maybe it was time for her to get one too...yeah, as if.

The Prince Charming she dreamt of since she was little would probably tuck tail and run after seeing how crazy her life and her friend were. But she loved them, and would not exchange them for any prince no matter how charming he was.

Finally reaching her apartment she started to mentally list all the beauty products she possessed: she was definitely going to use a couple of effervescent bath bombs, but was still debating whether using the new cherry flavoured body washer she had bought or stick to her usual vanilla scented one.

She opened the entrance door still trying to make a choice and... stopped breathing, her heart sinking faster than the Titanic.

She stood in the doorway, looking blankly at her living room. 'I should have seen it coming'.

"Yo Luce, welcome home" a voice greeted her.

Natsu was sprawled over her couch, head on the armrest and one leg over the back cushions, munching on a bag of crisps and scattering crumbs all around.

He had managed to decorate her recently washed sofa with a quantity of multi-coloured and greasy looking stains that stood out on the white of the fabric.

The little coffee table near the couch was filled with a variety of half to almost-eaten snacks, empty bottles and a knocked over glass whose content had spilled to the floor.

Lucy could guess that he had been to the kitchen and back by the trail of food scraps that led up to where he was lying.

"Lucyyy!" chirped Happy. He was sitting on top of her desk (no, sitting straight on _her novel_), sharpening his claws on the wooden surface, candidly peeling off curled shavings.

She glanced wearily to the window facing the street below: it was wide open and shreds of the wooden boards she had pinned across it to discourage potential unwanted visitors were strewn everywhere.

That was the point when usually Lucy started screaming about trespassing and privacy breach. Had it been any other day she would have fly-kicked the two and thrown them outside...just to have them wail at her door until she let them back in.

She always did it, in the end.

But, as thing were, Lucy had no energy left to go about the usual routine.

"Natsu...Happy..." she hissed viciously. Barely looking at them she closed the door and shuffled to her closet, trying not to step on the garbage "How many times must I tell you not to break into my apartment? It irritates me to no end every time you do it."

"Aww, come on Luce. Don't start. We know you love having us" the fire mage grinned.

"Yeah, you don't have to hide it" added Happy.

She snorted, irritated, and stared at her wardrobe: the doors and the drawers were wide open. Natsu had rummaged through her clothes again, scattering skirts, dresses and underwear all over the place.

She felt her anger increase slightly.

That was one of the things she hated the most about her friend. How he could sink his hand into her panties and bra, inspect them, _touch_ them as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

That told something about how little he thought of her femininity and every time Lucy felt a tinge of pain in her chest. Sure, they were as close as best friends could get and did rarely (read _never_) stand on ceremony, but she wished Natsu would realize that they belonged to two different genders.

"Oi, what's wrong? Are you ignoring us?" the pink haired boy complained.

"Yes I am. Listen guys, I'm spent, I cannot deal with you right now. So please, _please_ be nice you two and go away" she growled picking up some clothes from the floor.

"Waa Natsu! Lucy is being mean. Scary and mean!" whimpered the blue Exceed.

"Hey, why are you in a bad mood? Stop it, you're scaring Happy"

"Ooh shut up, I don't care! Just leave, ok? I need to take a bath "Lucy said, resigning herself to simply throw everything back into the closet and forget about it until tomorrow.

A part of her knew that she was indeed being excessively mean. She considered herself a polite person and these snappy remarks were not her style.

"So? Do it, I don't mind. Honestly, we've seen you naked so many times already that the novelty has worn off" Natsu replied, totally serious.

"But I DO mind, thank you very much! Listen, seriously, it's been a bad day and I just want to relax for a bit and then have a good sleep. I need it. I don't want to argue with you anymore. ".

She marched to the bathroom, fully intent on cutting the conversation short.

Her patience was wearing thin.

"Maybe if you had told us about your job we could have, like, helped. And you wouldn't be so tired now. ".

There was something in Natsu's tone that made her stop dead in her tracks, a hand already on the handle.

"And what does _this_ mean?" she asked menacingly, turning slowly towards him. He had crossed his arms over his chest and was looking out of the window with an annoyed expression plastered on his face.

Happy, feeling the mood tensing, was casting worried glances between the two.

"Don't tell me that you went on a rampage in my apartment because you were angry that I left you behind? I sure hope not because this would be ridiculous, totally crazy. Even for you."

"Of course I didn't, don't throw a fit. And I'm totally ok. But I just don't see why you had to sneak on a job without telling us. It's suspicious. Makes people wonder what you have to hide." he pouted. Like, _actually_ pouted.

Lucy almost couldn't believe her ears.

"Are you completely out of your mind?!" she asked wide-eyed "Just because we are on the same team it doesn't mean that I can't take solo mission if I want to. And I most certainly don't owe you any explanation. Last time I checked I was free to do what I wanted." she was enraged, but tried to keep her voice from actually shrieking.

"Waaah, please don't fight!" the blue cat pleaded. The situation was really getting out of hand and he was starting to get scared.

"We are not fighting. It's just Natsu behaving like a little kid..." she said turning her back to him angrily.

"Hey! I'm not..."

"...and I don't fight with children" she finished stomping in the bathroom and slamming the door behind her.

"Right back at you!" she heard him say.

She turned on the water in the bathtub, checking the temperature with her hand until she found the ideal one and then started to undress.

There were no noises coming from the other room and for a moment, she foolishly thought that the two had finally gone home.

Of course, it was hoping for too much.

"Ok, Luce. I think you took it the wrong way, but you are quite strange so I forgive you. I'm going to eat something. Let's talk about this again when you have calmed down, ok?"

"Urgh, just go home!" she grunted, clenching her fists in front of her face.

It was useless. Lucy could hear him rummaging in her kitchen like it was his own.

"Wow Luce, you are really hopeless at housework" he shouted from the other room "Not only fridge is empty..."

"It was full before you ate everything, idiot!"

"...but you should clean your house better. There's a bug here"

She stopped lifting her shirt and frowned. "My house is always sparkling until you mess it up. And what bug are you talking about?"

She was suddenly having a very bad feeling.

"This one on the fridge" the pink haired mage explained.

"Ewww Natsu, throw it away" she heard the Exceed complain disgustedly.

"But look Happy, it's really cool! It's all shades of blue and grey...and what are those things? Wings? Fins? Hey, if you squint your eyes and tilt your head it almost look like a miniature blue dragon..."

"Natsu, no! Stay back, don't touch it!" Lucy cried alarmed. She scrambled back into her clothes, shooting out of the bathroom and into the kitchen, where a horrified Happy was pointing a trembling paw at something.

It was too late.

Crouched in the middle of the room, a small pink haired boy no more than eleven years old looked up from the hand that he was holding open in front of him, onyx eyes filled with surprise and uncertainty.

Shocked, her mouth open wide in bewilderment, Lucy barely had time to see the little Glaucus resting in the boy's palm before it vanished with a flicker.

* * *

**Dun Duuuuunn! (No, not really)**

**As always comments, tips, opinions are always welcomed.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Big news! The wonderfully nice LadyKeyes is now the official beta for this story. If you still don't know her go check her profile: she's really talented and I'm kinda sorry that she has to fix my crappy writing (oh my gosh, the horror of my errors! I got goosebumps just reminiscing them XD).**

**Ok, now without further ado, here's the second part of the NaLu chapter! I've put a little "easter egg" inside, a tiny reference only the most hardore-geeky-nerd Mashima fans will be able to catch.**

**Still not owning Fairy Tail or its characters.**

* * *

"Oh no..." Lucy whispered, finally overcoming her horror enough to get back the power of speech.

She looked down at Natsu.

Or, at least, at what appeared to be the miniature version of him.

He was wearing the exact same outfit he had on before (his trademark waistcoat, baggy pants and scarf), but shrunken to adapt to the size of his now small body.

His face, although basically unchanged, seemed to have lost all its angular and hard features gaining instead a certain soft roundness, very child-like.

"Oh no, oh no, no, no-no-no" she continued, frantically circling him several times. The kid was gazing at her worriedly, turning his head to follow her movements. She kneeled in front of him to stare at his face.

Into his big eyes.

Very big.

Wait, were they this big before?

"Umm, Miss, you're creepy."

The soft, high-pitched voice somehow managed to free her from her stupor.

"Oh Mavis, Natsu are you alright? How do you feel?" she asked, voice etched with worry.

"Miss do I know you?"

That simple question caught her off guard. She raised her eyebrows, startled "Wha-? Yes, yes of course you know me! It's me, Lucy! I'm your friend, your teammate, don't you remember?"

A feeling of anxiety was beginning to seep through her. Things could even be worse than they seemed.

"What are you talking about? I don't have a team. Don't need one: I can do very well on my own." he chuckled raising an eyebrow and looking at Lucy like she was a complete nut.

Then peeked back at his palm.

"Hey! Where's my bug? What happened to it?" he cried, finally realizing that he was holding out an empty hand. "Did you steal it?" he accused, squinting his eyes distrustfully at Lucy.

"Of course not, why would I? " the girl retorted outraged.

Mini-Natsu shrugged his shoulders.

"Dunno. It was a pretty cool bug, maybe you collect them." he proposed.

In Lucy's heart, fear and anxiety for her friend's well-being were quickly being replaced by annoyance and a strong urge to spank him. Very strong.

"I don't collect bugs, stupid!" she exclaimed, exasperated.

"Hey, you're the stupid one! Bugs are awesome. And it's not nice for adults to pick on kids you know." he accused, crossing his thin arms across his tiny chest.

"You're not a kid Natsu, you've been transformed by the Glaucus." the blonde mage grunted, trying to calm herself. No, she couldn't lose control now and be swept into the kid's pace.

"What's a Glucu?" he asked frowning, struggling to grasp the foreign word.

"A Glaucus...it's the bug from before..." she clarified, waving her hand dismissively.

"Ah-aah, so you DO know about bugs!" he said pointing a finger at her. He smirked, proud of himself for having outsmarted the strange busty girl.

"No, I'm not Elie! Listen, that wasn't a bug at all, but a magical creature. Very _rare_ and _powerful_ I must add." Lucy tried to explain to the lively child. She was hoping that putting emphasis on these two words could calm him down or al least get his full attention, but his blank stare made her quickly discard the thought. "I can't imagine what could have been its reason for doing so, but it turned you back into a kid." she finished.

"How could I have been 'turned back into' something I already am, Miss? I've always been like this, as far as I can remember." he contradicted her. This lady sure was saying strange things.

"No no no no. You see, you are under a spell...until a minute ago you were a fully fledged adult, I swear! You were tall, strong and and and..." Lucy fumbled to find the right words, "you were well built...but it's not like I was ogling you or anything, it's just that you always go around wearing that damned vest and showing off your biceps and abs so much that I think you are doing it on purpose, actually..." she trailed off.

Wait, what the hell was she blabbering?

"Miss, you're scary." the kid said, backing away cautiously a little bit.

She shook her head, trying to clear away those strange thoughts, coming from heaven knows where.

"Please, Natsu! Try to focus! Don't you remember breaking into my apartment with Happy a while ago?"

"Who's Happy?" the little boy asked with a quizzical look.

The blue Exceed had been silent up until that very moment, still too shocked by the sudden turn of events to speak. He had witnessed the transformation of his dragonslayer, too terrified to do anything to help him. Then Lucy had hurried into the kitchen and instead of helping she started to act like a madwoman, saying confusing things and generally making matters worse. Typical.

Hearing his name being said out loud somehow managed to de-petrify him and he rushed over his friend's side.

"It's me Natsu! How can you not know who I am?." he wailed desperately. "I mean it's ok to forget about Lucy..."

"Hey!"

"...but I'm your super best friend ever!".

Natsu turned and looked dumbfounded at him for several seconds...before exploding.

"THIS CAT JUST TALKED! AWESOME!" he cried excitedly, tackling a heart-shattered Happy "Can I have it?! _CanIhaveitCanIhaveitCanIhaveit_?! Please Miss, pleaseeee!".

He was so loud that Lucy had to actually cover her ears to not have them shattered.

"No!" she hollered, trying to talk over the noise.

"Why?! It's not fair, you stole my bug, the least you can do is give me your cat." he pouted, clutching Happy tighter to his chest.

"I did not steal your damn bug. And Happy is not my cat.".

"Ok, so I can take him, right?".

"No, you can't...".

"Why not?".

"Because I said so!" Lucy blurted out, throwing her hands in the air. Then she pinched the bridge of her nose, closed her eyes, and breathed deeply as she tried to collect herself.

"No, wait, that's not it, I'm starting to sound just like my father...what I meant to say is that Happy doesn't belong to anyone, he is his own. You can't treat him like a thing and simply _take _him, he's your friend and friends deserve to be respected." she told him in a tone that she hoped sounded calm and sensible.

The little boy turned to the Exceed in his hands. The cat was rigid and lifeless like a doll; his wide white eyes and mouth hanging open due to the hard emotional blow.

"It's not like I can ask him if he's like this" the mini-Natsu complained, still unconvinced.

"He-he doesn't...remember...m-me..." muttered Happy in a faint voice "I'm j-just like Lucy..."

"You are definitely not helping, stupid cat!" the blonde mage said angrily, snatching the Exceed from the boy's grasp and throwing him into the couch.

"Tch, you're no fun, Miss" Natsu grumbled lacing his hands behind his head.

"And stop calling me '_Miss_'!"

"But Igneel told me to be respectful toward the elders..."

Hearing this, Lucy throw him a withering look. "We're the same age!" she spat poisonously.

"...I think!" she added grudgingly. She had always assumed that they were more or less close in age, but she couldn't be sure. Nobody at the guild, not even Natsu himself, knew his birthday and back during the Fantasia incident Freed's rune barrier had sparked rumours that he could be over eighty.

Anyway, at most _he_ was the older one. Certainly not her.

"Oookay, if you say so..." he looked around a bit, curious, finally taking notice of the messy kitchen and even messier living room.

"Wow Miss, your house is really dirty, you know?" He said with an impressed whistle "You should clean it sometimes. Otherwise no man is going to marry you."

Lucy had to physically stop her hand from tightening around his neck. 'I'm gonna murder the little impudent brat' she thought, but managed not to say it out loud.

"For your information, my house was sparkling clean before your arrival. It's all your fault." she snorted, instead.

"Oh, yeah. Why did you bring me here?" he asked, hopping into the living room and then turning around to look at her.

"I didn't take you anywhere, you came on your own! Without telling me."

'Like you always do' she added in her head and suddenly the very thought of this now ritual intrusion not happening again made her insides churn with fear.

"Why would I enter the house of an unknown woman?" he asked unconvinced, taking a step back and casting a suspicious glance towards her "Hey, are you perhaps one of those scary adults that kidnap defenceless children and sell them as slaves?".

"Of course not! Don't look at me like I'm some kind of maniac!" she said offended.

"Good. Because I'm anything but helpless, I'm a mage of Fairy Tail!" he said cockily, flashing her a toothy grin.

"_I know_, Natsu."

"Oh, by the way, I should probably go back to the guild now. I have to make that new Gray guy understand who's the strongest!".

He turned around and hopped nimbly on the window sill, pausing to wave a hand at a stupefied Lucy.

"What...no, wait for me...you can't walk around the town in this state!" she said hurriedly.

But he wasn't listening.

"It was nice meeting you, creepy Miss! Thanks for having me!"

"Natsu wait!" Lucy wailed, but he jumped out of the window.

"Damn idiot!" she cursed under her breath, leaning out the window frame in time to see a small shape speeding through the street below.

She shoot out the apartment, chasing after the little boy. Damn, he was fast! She had already lost sight of him.

'Well, nevermind,' the blonde mage thought as she pushed through the late afternoon crowd. She knew exactly where he was headed. The main problem was trying to get there as fast as she could.

If she was already dead tired before reaching her house, now she could practically feel her muscles screaming in pain and agony. She ignored her body's protest as she run towards the guild.

So much for her relaxing evening! Natsu had managed to disrupt her plan once more. Typical.

It was just like that hothead to just do what he wanted without caring about the others!

To be fair, this time it wasn't entirely his fault: the Glaucus had done a great deal of the work. But Mavis bless her she couldn't think of any good reason for its odd behaviour.

But she didn't want to be fair. She wanted to be angry, upset with her friend who, even mini-sized was still a big idiot.

Because anger made her blood boil in her veins, causing her legs pump like pistons to catch up with the little twerp. It kept her mind clear and focused and, above all, it kept at bay that feeling of pure, unadulterated fear which threatened to overwhelm her with each passing second.

Fear that something, _anything_, might happen to that child.

Fear of not being able to feel again that warmth, that feeling of safety which, despite all his rowdiness and silliness, Natsu could inspire in her heart.

* * *

**Yes, this one is actually a 3 part chapter XD**

**Feel free to say how much you liked it/hated it.**

**And chibi-Natsus will be handed to those who guessed the little Easter egg ;-)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello, long time no see! No wait, I know I'm just the worst for making you wait so long for the final NaLu chapter, but please don't throw things at me.**

**I'm really, really sorry but I had the worst author's block ever. It seemed as if this chapter had a will of its own and did not want to be written**

**I must admit I seriously considered throwing the towel and it's all because of Suikodengel's "please keep on updating" that I decided I definitely had to complete the story.**

**It still took me ages though, so again apologies.**

**Just a couple of things before the overdue conclusion.**

**Firstly, thumbs up for Hisuichanxx, for having correctly guessed Elie's identity. **

**Secondly, I lost my beta! Well, that's not totally true, but she is really busy and I felt like I was bothering her so this chapter's quality is lower than the previous one. As I already said, English is not my mother tongue and Word automatic error detection and correction tool is not 100% thurstworty.**

**I apologize for all the mistakes that are scattered along the chapter. I tried my best. Please point out everything that I got wrong, I take no offence.**

* * *

The boy frowned, looking at the building in front of him.

He was pretty sure that merely the previous day his beloved Fairy Tail occupied that exact same place and, indeed, from where he was standing he could spot a large sign bearing the guild's name.

It was just above an impressive iron gate that opened in a stone fence that now surrounded the headquarters. A decorated railing ran along the entire length of the barricade, punctuated by pillars over-topped by torches. The construction inside it looked nothing like it was supposed to.

Gone was the old, sturdy looking, down to earth building: its three floors, each one smaller than the one below and sitting on the latter's roof, had disappeared along with the round and pointed dome topping it all.

Natsu liked that one. He liked his guild's headquarters because it gave off a friendly and welcoming aura.

This one instead looked like a castle, the kind people would expect to find on the other side of a besieging army. There were battlements on top of its two upper floors, over which several large torches were light and lined up. Topping the last floor was a small, tower-like dome with a pointed roof containing a large bell.

It didn't look _right_.

Clearly something had happened in the few hours he had been away and he could bet it had something to do with the Stripper. That kid smelled like trouble and Natsu didn't like him one bit.

Not that the feeling wasn't mutual.

Determined to find the Master and give him an earful about this new freakish look, he stomped up the lane leading to the entrance and pushed open the double wooden door.

And stopped dead in his tracks.

The hall wasn't so different from the old one, but it was way larger in size. There were something like two dozen tables and benches that stretched across the length of the room, ending at a large, wooden stage with four staircases on its left and right sides.

The boy scanned the room, puzzled.

The real problem wasn't the new layout, the people were.

He did not recognize anyone. Not a single face seemed familiar.

Not among the patrons drinking loudly and merrily at the tables, nor among the ones seated on the various stools in front of the long counter that occupied the wall to the right.

Yet, the scene itself was the usual one.

People were drinking, chatting noisily or gathering in front of the request board.

Nothing seemed strange or out of the ordinary, except that his friends and everyone he know was nowhere to be seen. What the hell had happened?

Natsu prided himself on the fact that he had never truly been afraid. Fear was something others felt. His enemies, mostly. Ok, maybe and just maybe he was a little intimidate when it came to that Erza girl, but never been afraid didn't mean being completely oblivious: he knew danger when he saw it.

Even now, he wasn't afraid. Things were strange, unfamiliar, but far from scary. Nonetheless something _did_ concern him, made him feel restless: his friends and their wellbeing. When it came to himself he was afraid of nothing, but he would always worry for his nakama.

"Yo brat, move the hell along. Ya're in the way."

He turned around puffing himself up into a hostile stance, ready to start punching the idiot who didn't know who he was picking a fight with.

He had to crane his neck to see the massive shape looming over him.

Natsu felt the hairs at the back of his neck stand up, just looking at the large, dark man. He was over six feet tall, with a long mane of unruly black hair kept in place by a red and gold bandanna that was the only colourful item in his otherwise monochrome attire: the pants, shirt and leather jacket he was clad into were all black.

Piercing red eyes looked down at him in a scornful scowl. His entire aura screamed of a bad, ill-tempered, rather dangerous guy and Natsu didn't immediately jumped at him only because the whole terrifying look was ruined by the rather cute black cat with a mischievous smirk perched on top of the punk's head.

However, as said before, Natsu did not know what fear was.

"Hey, what's an ugly mug like you doing here?" he growled clenching his fists and squaring his shoulders "Are you looking for trouble? Because I'll be glad to show you how a Fairy Tail's mage deal with creeps like you."

The tall man shot him an annoyed look.

"Listen squirt, ya are as menacing as those cranky, pocket-sized dogs, but less funny. Ya're lucky that I'm inna hurry today, otherwise _I_ would have showed ya how a _real_ mage of Fairy Tail can kick anyone's arse, seeing that _I am_ one of them. Now get out of my sight and my guild or I'll seriously spank ya."

"Gajeel, language please" scolded the black cat over his head in a surprising deep voice, lowering itself on the guy's shoulder. "Try to behave at least with the _other_ children" it finished, teasing him.

Natsu's eyes widened in shock and surprise and it wasn't for the talking cat. He had already seen one that day, after all.

Did that scumbag really just said '_my guild_'?

"There's no way you're a member of Fairy Tail!" he exclaimed disbelieving.

The man transferred his reproachful and annoyed gaze from his feline companion back to the boy.

"Ya think so? Well the mark on my shoulder says otherwise. Now quit your yapping and scram."

"What? I don't believe even for a second that someone would put our emblem on you. You're lying!" retorted the boy, still holding his ground.

"I am not!"

"Then show it to me!"

"Wha..? No! I don't have ta prove anything ta a bean sprout like ya. Who are ya, by the way?"

Natsu was about to answer when one of the barmaids approached them.

"Hello Gajeel, Lily. Looking for a job, are you? And who might be your little friend?" she asked merrily.

She was a tall, blu-eyed girl, with long silvery hair that reached her waist, dressed in a straight red gown. She was holding a tray full of half-to-almost-empty glasses of beer and was flashing Natsu the sweetest smile he had ever seen.

Not that he noticed or cared about the smiles of the girls, obviously.

"Hello Mira. Actually Gajeel and I were just getting acquainted with this little fellow" answered the small feline.

"We were not getting bloody acquainted! I was about ta throw him out..."

"Oh my, just look at you! You're such a cutie!" the girl exclaimed, cutting the Gajeel-guy rant short "Are you cosplaying as Natsu?"

"Mmmh, now that I think about it, he does look a lot like Dragneel" the black cat agreed, looking attentively at the boy.

"That's because he _is_ Natsu" a voice said.

Everybody turned around to stare blankly at Lucy who had appeared, sweating and panting, in the doorway. She took a deep breath and strode towards the group.

"What the hell did ya just say, Bunny Girl?"

"You heard me right Gajeel. He does not simply look like Natsu. He is. He's been put under a spell by the Glaucus" she replied in a grim tone.

Three set of wary stares focused back to the boy.

"What? That wretched thing again?" Gajeel snorted, "I really should have squashed it."

"Oh no, Natsu! How did that happen?" asked the silver haired girl, bending down to examine the little dragonslayer with big, worried eyes.

Natsu had been looking at the waitress during the whole conversation.

He looked at her again, harder, but his eyes still returned him the same image. An image that couldn't possibly be associate with the name he had heard.

"Mira?" he managed to say, "as in Mirajane Strauss? The Demon Mirajane Strauss?"

Mira shot Lucy a puzzled look.

"Well, ok guys, nicely played. You almost got me with this" he scoffed "but now I know it's all fake! There's no way this oneesan can be Mira."

"What nonsense are ya spouting, Salamander? Ya finally lost it?"

"Hey, big guy, if you are asking for it I..."

"Shut up Natsu! He isn't a child merely in looks, Gajeel, he has lost all of his memories as well and… let's just say that Mira looked quite different back in the old days."

"Ahh...I was a lively child" she conceded merrily.

"More like a devil spawn. Hey what's going on here?"

Every head in the group turned to see Laxus making his entrance, an eyebrow raised in mild curiosity.

"Oh Laxus, welcome back. It's the Glaucus again…" Mira informed him.

"The what?"

"Oh sorry, you guys weren't there last time. Well, you see, it all happened because Gajeel was too shy to confess to Levy so..."

"Oi, waitress! Don't just say whatever ya want!" spluttered angrily the black dragonslayer.

"Gajeel watch your manners when you are talking to a lady."

"Oh Lily, always the gentleman!" Mirajane chirped, patting the Exceed's head.

"Ok, I didn't understand a thing. Who's the kid?" Laxus said, sounding slightly annoyed. He had just returned from a quite taxing mission in Bosco and he had pictured the day ending with a good pint not a mess.

"Just because ya're a flirt Lil, it doesn't mean I have ta..."

"Gajeel, please."

"Laxus?" the pink haired boy enquired, eyes wide with incredulity.

"It's Natsu!" exclaimed Lucy dejected.

"Natsu's?" the blond frowned, looking between the kid and Lucy "Oh well, maybe you guys rushed it a bit but if you felt ready I can only wish you all the best."

"You are HUGE! I mean, you were always big, but now you're..."

"I said this IS Natsu, Laxus. There's no way I could be his mother, I'm too young!"

"I think you would make a wonderful mum, Lucy" Mirajane interjected.

"If you are really Laxus, let's fight!" said Natsu excitedly raising his fist on guard.

"Mira, you are not helping...I mean Laxus, look at me, how old do you think I am?"

"...and I wasn't shy, I'm just not a flirt, like someone else..."

"Gajeel..."

"I can mop the floor with you dad, kiddo. Come back when you've grown up a bit."

"You are misunderstanding everything!" cried the blond stellar mage exasperated, throwing her arms in the air.

"Hey, what's this commotion about?"

Natsu leapt forward in that exact moment. Shouting "_Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!_" he lunged at Laxus, who simply sidestepped to the left, effortlessly avoiding the punch. Propelled forward by the attack's momentum, the young boy crashed into the person right behind Laxus.

He felt his blazing fist collide with something squishy and then something rock-solid before he managed to turn on himself in mid-air, landing swiftly on his feet, ready to face Laxus again.

"Aw yuck! What's this sticky thing?" he asked in a mild disgusted tone, inspecting the cream coloured substance that was covering his right hand and dripping slowly onto the floor.

A collective intake of breath made him snap his head up and look dumbfounded at the group of people in front of him. They had abruptly stopped talking, freezing on the spot.

Everyone was looking behind him with wide-eyed, horror-stricken faces (well, almost everyone: Laxus's expression was one of wariness bordering on mild concern. He was, after all, still his amazing self).

Natsu frowned uncomprehendingly at them before his survival instinct kicked in and he felt an absolutely ominous aura looming behind him. He turned quickly but took an immediate step back, seriously considering making a run for it.

"My Cherries Jubilee" a voice from hell growled. The air around Erza Scarlett was black with hate and fury. She was standing perfectly still, the hand that had clutched her treat empty but still raised and the remains of her dessert splattered across her chest-plate.

She focussed her death-stare on the slack-jawed boy paralysed in front of her. Luckily for him, a bit of common sense managed to push through the gory thoughts of revenge enough to lift the red mist clouding her head and let her notice that something was not quite right.

"Explain" she hissed to everyone.

"So… it is Natsu this time, mm?" the Master said. He was seated cross-legged on the counter, eyes closed and chin resting thoughtfully on his knuckles.

Lucy thanked Mavis for the fact that they were able to placate Erza enough to explain her the whole situation and, just barely, avoid a bloodbath. When the redhead had glanced back before going to look for Makarov, Lucy had shivered and thought that, if the look on her face was any indication, maybe the cherries could still be avenged.

"I don't understand. Glaucus are almost mythological creatures. I almost could not believe that we were able to meet one of them once, but twice... it's just absurd" Levy huffed. She had been working with the guild master on some Council papers when Erza had broken down his office's door, mumbling ferociously about innocent ice creams and fake children.

"I think it's safe to assume that it's the very same creature that happened to develop a liking to Fairy Tail" said Freed. He had been summoned and briefed on the whole Glaucus-affair. Past and present.

"And you call this 'like'? It turned Gajeel into a vicious dog and Natsu into an annoyingly hyperactive child. If it likes us it sure has a strange way of showing it" the blond girl complained.

"Lucy is right. Maybe it is actually attacking us. We cannot rule out the possibility that it could be our enemy, targeting the dragonslayers first to weaken us" Laxus pointed out. It was just what they needed, he thought sarcastically: a fairytale creature attacking _his_ Fairy Tail.

"No, I don't think so. Letting aside the fact that Glaucus are pacific and benevolent beings, one of them could probably take on the whole guild by itself. Choosing instead to challenge us one by one simply doesn't make sense." countered Levy, shaking her head.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't there so I might have gotten it wrong, but I was under the impression that the Glaucus' last actions resulted in a quite positive outcome, particularly for you Levy-chan, isn't it?" asked the member of the Raijinshū "I think we shouldn't rule out the possibility that maybe this time also the creature is approaching us with friendly intentions."

He tilted his head, perplexed by the sudden change in the atmosphere: Levy was blushing furiously from head to toe, hoping and failing to acquire sudden invisibility. Meanwhile Lucy's face had gone blank and only the Master's badly disguised snicker shook her from her stupor.

"Wait a minute Freed, what are you implying here?" she said, with a note of almost panic in her voice "are you saying that the Glaucus is trying to set me up with Natsu? I don't think so.

No, no, no, no. Nope. Not a chance. I am sorry but you are making a blunder here.

A huge one.

I mean, even if it _did_ actually help Levy and Gajeel get together it just gave them the final push. It was obvious for everyone in the guild that they were head over heels in love with each other and were only wasting everyone's time by being stubborn about it."

She waved away Levy's indignant shriek of protest and pressed on "But Natsu and I are different. We are not in love, we are just friends. Best friends, maybe, but there is nothing more to it.

I know that we get along fine and we spend a lot of time together but... isn't it normal between teammates?"

She stopped, mentally berating herself, when she felt the others' eyes on her. She was jabbering and looking suspicious as hell, but she the words had just escaped her mouth without her being able to stop them.

Freed didn't know better and he needed to be told clearly how things were, so he didn't misunderstand anything. So _everyone_ didn't misunderstand anything.

Things were already difficult enough without people concentrating on the wrong issue: she just wanted her best friend back, not end up with a boyfriend.

She risked a sideways glance to the source of all her discomfort. A little far away, at the other end of the guildhall, Natsu was seated amidst an unusual ensemble. Gajeel was eyeing him suspiciously from the opposite side of the wooden table, Lily scolding him in a vain attempt to get him to assume a less hostile attitude.

Not so far away, on the right, Wendy and Romeo were doing their best to comfort a still dejected Happy.

Bixlow and Cana had apparently decided that the whole situation was a mess entertaining enough for their tastes and had both taken the front seat at the end of the table to enjoy the show. They had gathered a supply of pitchers of beer that could have cured the thirst of an entire battalion and were snickering shamelessly, trying to nick each other's mugs.

Behind them Elfman and Evergreen were standing beside each other, the former with a somewhat worried expression on his face, the latter striking a pose to catch the male Strauss' attention and not caring much about anything else.

Lisanna was seated next to Natsu, giggling to the pouting child and playfully patting his head.

It was mainly thanks to his old childhood friend showing up at the guild (and Erza's killer-glances) that the kid had calmed down a little. After overcoming the initial shock of seeing a face straight out of her memories, the younger Strauss had managed to get him to behave.

It hadn't even taken a lot of effort on her part: with just a mild but firm scolding, a couple of witty remarks and some vague mention of embarrassing episodes of the past, she had persuaded the pink haired boy that everything was real and not some huge prank against him.

It was not really that surprising, considering how close they had been when they were kids.

Observing their interaction, Lucy could not help a sudden pang of discomfort.

It was stupid, really, but there was a voice screaming angrily inside her head that that role belonged to her.

It was a petty thought, of course, and she regretted it immediately. She was relatively new to Fairy Tail and Lisanna had been there, by Natsu's side, way before she did. The white haired girl had been his best friend until that fateful day when she had been sucked into Edolas and now, with his memories gone, she had simply resumed her rightful position.

Lucy cringed: what the hell was she thinking? The guild was one huge family, there was no "position" to be taken away from her. It wasn't a spot on a team, for Mavis' sake, or a competition between Lisanna and her. Even if Natsu and she were not as close as before, they would still be guildmates.

"Y_eah, but those two will have a special bond. Their shared history will connect them and what will be left for you?_" the malicious voice whispered again. She tried to mute it, tried to erase those shameful thoughts, because it was not like this, _she was not_ like this.

They would definitely cure Natsu because the whole Fairy Tail needed him and she would make him remember her not because she was jealous, but because _their_ history was precious too.

"So... you... resurrected?" Natsu asked with a puzzled expression.

Lisanna tried to suppress a giggle "No, dummy. I was never dead in the first place. I had crossed into a parallel dimension. Pay attention, will you?"

She had been trying to tell him about her two-year absence from the guild, but she could see he was getting more and more confused by the minute.

"I'm so sorry Lis. I'm a failure as a big brother and as a man" murmured dejectedly Elfman. As Lisanna was narrating to Natsu the events leading to her disappearance, he had started to reminisce every dreadful detail of that damned day when he had struck his little sister and his face was now a mask of pain and guilt.

Evergreen looked at him with a condescending expression and snorted, manifesting her version of emotional support.

"Nonsense, onichan, it wasn't your fault. You weren't in control of your actions that day and I never blamed you even for a second" the white haired girl dismissed him, flashing his big brother a reassuring smile. "Besides, I was happy in Edolas. As I was saying," she continued, turning back to Natsu "There was a Fairy Tail there too. It was made up of everyone's counterparts and they welcomed me with open arms. Well, it's true that they thought I was _their_ Lisanna, the Lisanna from Edolas, but that doesn't change the fact that from the very first moment I felt like I was back with my family."

She laughed softly, thinking back about Edolas-Natsu. She had a hunch that even as a kid her Natsu would have been horrified by his counterpart's behaviour.

"Oh. But what did you do when you met the other Lis? Was it strange? Did she freak out when she saw you?" the boy asked.

She abruptly stopped laughing and paled, like someone had just slapped her across the face and the flicker of emotion that crossed her features was too quick for the dragonslayer to be able to place it.

"No, she...wasn't there" she eventually managed to say, her voice sounding oddly croaked "she had..."

Before she could finish the sentence, the guild's doors swung open and (almost) everyone turned toward the noise.

"Look who finally show his face" grumbled Gajeel, earning himself a reproachful gaze from Lily. He didn't care, though, because he was royally pissed off.

His purpose for coming to the guild today had been to find Levy and get her to train with Lily and himself... and maybe have a nice dinner afterwards, together. Minus Lily. However, thanks to that damned blue bug, his Shorty was now completely unavailable, too caught up on trying to sort out the stupid Salamander's problem because no one in the whole guild had half of her brain.

It was entirely the bug's fault. And Salamander's. And Bunny Girl's. _And_ it was the Bookworm's fault too, because she was too smart and everyone relied on her.

He glared at her, fighting the urge of simply walk up to the table she was seated at, grab her and _hoard her_ in some far and hidden place...then transferred his angry gaze to Phanterlily who had started sniggering, having guessed his line of thoughts.

Natsu observed a black haired man and a blue haired woman make their way into the hall, just to be intercepted by an eager Mirajane. The two started to speak in hushed tones with the barmaid, the male raising his eyebrow as the conversation progressed and the girl gasping worriedly a couple of times.

After a little while, the two newcomers parted from Mira and made their way toward the group gathered around the kid.

In the amount of space they had to walk to reach them, the man had managed to seemingly unconsciously discard his jacket and shirt.

There could be no doubt on his identity.

"Stripper?" Natsu asked surprised. Because the ice-for-brain had gotten big too. Not like Laxus, but definitely bigger than himself.

"Yo Flame-Head, what the heck did you do this time?" Gray shot back, crossing his arms on his chest and studying critically the kid.

He was Natsu, without a doubt. He remembered well when he used to look like he did now.

"Hey, I didn't do a thing!" the young boy retorted angrily, shooting up to stand on the wooden bench with his fists balled up menacingly.

"Hey Gray, don't upset the kid. It took us ages to make him behave" drawled Cana between a gulp of beer and the other, "if he starts to make a ruckus again you're the one who'll go out to play with him."

The ice mage shot her an annoyed look, but the pink haired boy felt bothered by that comment: what the heck was that condescending tone for? They were treating him like he was some sort of toddler and they were the bigger, better guys who had to put up with him.

He would have to show them otherwise.

"I'm not showing myself around with this pervert" he rebuffed, making a disgusted face.

"What? Whom are you calling a pervert? You're lucky that you're just a kid or I would have taught you a lesson."

Natsu snorted derisively.

"Who the hell do you think you are, Gildarts? I can take you on any time, at any age and in any size!"

"Yeah, whatever. Now drop it, I don't punch brats."

"There's no way you could manage to land a hit on me, you _old pervert_" he goaded.

"Natsu!" Lisanna scolded him. She tried to take a hold of the kid's arm and make him sit back again, but he evaded her grasp, jumping on top of the table.

"Hey!" complained in unison Cana, Bixlow and his babies as several still-full glasses were knocked down by the boy's feet.

"That's enough, I'm warning you..." Gray growled, pointing menacingly a finger to the pink haired boy.

"Gray-sama please calm down. Natsu-kun is not his usual self" pleaded Juvia warily. That seemed to have some effect on the ice mage, because he managed to collect himself and lowered his hand.

Natsu was infuriating as always and he had given in to the old habit of picking a fight with the Flame-Head. It was what they did: they had gotten on each other's nerve since the very first time they met.

They respected each other, in a begrudgingly sort of way, but getting along fine like merry old chaps? That was entirely another matter. They had been constantly arguing about who was the strongest one and most of th...well, okay, _every single time_ they let their fists do the talking.

So it was just because of this, just out of habit really, that when Natsu jumped in the air ready to punch him in the face, Gray didn't dodge but struck him.

It wasn't even a particularly strong blow because he managed to rein himself in a little when he heard Lisanna scream a terrified "_Don't_!", but it still caught the little boy square in the pit of the stomach, sending him crashing backwards into Happy.

Natsu got the wind knocked out of himself as he sailed backwards into one of the wooden pillars that supported the ceiling, hitting the back of his head and slumping gracelessly to the floor.

He raised his fuzzy gaze, meeting Gray's eyes and the shock he found there mirrored his own.

"Oh shi...Natsu I'm sorry, I didn't meant to..." the rest of his phrase was drowned by Lisanna and Cana's angry shouts, counterpointed by Elfman's "_Real men don't strike children!_"

Natsu blinked to clear his vision and reached behind him to pull out the now fainted blue cat. The creature had cushioned the impact, but man, that had hurt like hell!

"Natsu-nii! Are you okay?" exclaimed a black haired young boy, kneeling beside him "damn that Gray, is he out of his mind?"

He looked slightly older than he was. A girl about the boy's age, with deep blue hair tied into twin ponytails knelt by his other side, picking up the cat and cradling it in her arms.

"How do you feel Natsu-kun? Where does it hurt?" she asked Natsu, solicitously.

The little fire mage looked at them with confused eyes. He hadn't the faintest idea of who they might be, but it was obvious that they knew him, that they were his friends.

_And that they were worried about his sorry ass because the Stripper had just beaten the shit out of him_.

He could not believe what had just happened and neither could the ice mage, if the look he had flashed him was any indication.  
Mavis, the _expression_ on Fullbuster's face was what hurt the most: that contrite gaze that he never saw once before during their fights spoke volumes. He had not meant to punch that hard because he _knew_ he was so much stronger than he was now.  
He looked back at Gray, who was still being yelled at by the whole Strauss family plus one Alberona, then at the fast approaching group of adults from the other side of the guildhall and finally back again to the two youngster.

_Who were these people?_

He ignored their outstretched hands and picked himself off the ground. "I'm... ah... I'm fine. I just... I just... ah sorry but I... have to go home" he told them and bolt out of the doors.

Lucy had almost reached him when she saw him fleeing.

"Natsu, wait!" she cried desperately and ran after him, giving chase.

Behind her, chaos was threatening to explode once more in the guild and Master Makarov and Luxus were trying to calm everyone's temper down.

"Oh no…" wailed Levy, reaching Wendy and Romeo "That's a _disaster_! We have to find him, quickly, before he gets attacked by some dark guild or who knows what. Wendy, can you smell..."

"Leave it, Shorty. Bunny Girl is already hot on his trail, didn't ya see?" Gajeel interrupted her, appearing at her side with Panterlily perched on his shoulder.

He sighed at the incredulous look the blunette shot him and at the soft 'but-but' that were coming from the tiny blue haired dragonslayer.

"What's gotten into you? Of course we have to help her find him, he's our friend and..." she stopped again when he placed a hand on her head, locking his eyes into hers.

"I know, Shorty" he said, his tone softening "but if that blue bug made him like that, well, I bet Bunny Girl is the only one who can help him. That's fer them ta sort out."

Levy gaped at him for a few moments, until the meaning of his words dawned on her then lowered her eyes to the floor, blushing.

"Maybe you are right" she murmured.

"Ghihihihh, damn right I am" he smirked "Now, about that hoarding thing..."

"The _what_?!"

"I'm not going to run ever again after this" Lucy panted as she sprinted through the dark and desert street of Magnolia.

She had lost Natsu almost immediately and when she had rushed to his house just to find no trace of him she nearly had had a panic attack.

Then she had a flash of realization: the river, the bridge and she had sprinted again toward the outskirts of the town.

As she run, with her heard lodged in her throat and her insides knotted with worry, she fervently hoped that she had correctly remembered the only place where Natsu allowed himself to be sad.

Was it still far? Or did she already passed by it, completely missing the spot? She was about to scream in frustration when she saw it: a tiny dot further up on the riverbank she was running by.

Lucy slowed down to a brisk walk, trying to even her frantic breaths, while getting closer and closer. He was seated on the ground, arms around his pulled up knees, still as a statue and looking blankly at the flowing water in front of him.

"Go away" he said when she was just a few meter away from him. She stopped, startled by the gravelly quality of his voice, but then shook herself and pressed on.

"I just wanted to be sure you were alright. I was worried, you know" she said softly, taking a couple of tentative steps towards him.

"Yeah? Thank you. I'm fine. Now you can go."

She sighed sadly. "Don't be like this Natsu, please. I just want to help you. I'm your friend."

She had finally reached him by the riverbank. She lowered herself to sit down beside him, slowly and cautiously, like he was dealing with a wild animal ready to bolt at the first sudden movement.

She saw him visibly stiffen and he quickly turned his face away from her, but her heart gave a painful squeeze nonetheless.

_Oh Mavis, had he cried?_

"Li-listen Natsu, I know you are probably upset and... and... confused right now" she told him, fumbling with her words "things must look crazy in your eyes but believe me, we've been through worst things than this one and we've always came out as winners. Everyone will help you and I know we will overcome this too."

"Listen lady" he hissed angrily "I appreciate your concern but I don't remember a single thing worse than this one _ever_ happening to me so don't try to say you know how I feel. Because you don't.

Moreover you can claim you're my nakama all you want but I don't have a single memory of you. I don't know you and I don't want to talk with you right now. So now leave and mind your own business!"

It was like he had punched her in the gut: she gasped, unable to remember how to form words until, between the hurt and the rejection, something hot and burning came bubbling up.

"No, I won't" she replied and the hardness in her voice made the small boy turn, surprised, towards her.

"I will not mind my own business because if years ago, in Hargeon, the most amazing mage I've ever known had not stuck his nose into matters that did not concern him at all, something horrible would have happened to me.

He did not know me and should not have cared about my fate. He was on an important quest, one concerning his family and I was just a greenhorn looking for a place to belong. I was trying to make a name for myself but I was so conceited... I walked right into a trap because I was overconfident in myself and in my magical powers and he rescued me. He literally flew from the sky and wiped out all the bad guys... "

A soft, warm smile stretched on her lips and she gently placed her hand on his cheek "It was you, Natsu" she said looking into his confused and astonished eyes.

"You saved me from a life of slavery and even just for this I will always be grateful. But you did so much more: you took my hand and brought me to Fairy Tail. Thanks to you, I was able to make tons of amazing friends and to remember what is like to have a loving family that cares for you.

So, you see, I really cannot go away. Because I was lost and you found me, and now it's my turn to reach out to you" she finished in a whisper.

The young boy remained silent, but did not move to get away. The silence between them stretched a little longer until he lowered his gaze to the ground.

"I... I was lost too" he whispered, "that's my first memory ever. Being lost in the woods. It's all a little fuzzy, granted, and sometimes I don't know if I'm remembering actual things or just making them up. I think I remember the trees, so _tall_ over my head... and... and _me_ walking, but I didn't know where I came from and I didn't know where to go.

I was just, you know, wandering and I didn't know what the hell to do. That's when Igneel found me and we became family. He taught me everything: how to speak, how to read and write, how to fight and use magic. Every day was so much fun and I was happy.

But one day he... he simply _disappeared_. He went away and never came back. I scoured the woods, but he was nowhere to be found.

I was alone.

So I walked and walked, looking for him everywhere until I stumbled upon Fairy Tail and... " .

He sighed, raking a hand through his hairs.

"Don't get me wrong, it's not like I have thrown in the towel. I still want to find him, he's my dad and nothing can change that.

It's just that the people there... there are some really strong mages, and I mean _crazy-strong_, that I admire and respect. I want to be like them. But _all_ the people in the guild are good people: they are my nakama, my precious friends and I don't want to leave them, even if I do manage to find my dad.

I think it would be super cool if I could have them both, if we could live all together like one big family.

I don't care if the stupid Stripper is right, if I'm just a brat having a fit... but before, back in the guild, I didn't know half of the people there and everyone was so different and I didn't recognize them anymore. They've grown up, moved on with their lives and it _hurts_ because it's like they _left me_ and I'm all alone again... " he choked on his words, unable to go on.

Lucy felt as if an invisible hand was squeezing her heart, but she fought back the tears that were threatening to spill out and reached out again to the child.

"You are not alone, you hear me?" she said cupping his face in her hands and forcing him to look into her eyes.

"Even if you don't remember them, they do remember you. Everyone in Fairy Tail is still your nakama and nobody is going to leave you behind. They will move heaven and earth until they will find a way to fix... until _we_ will find a way to fix you.

Because I will be there too, that's for sure! I will stick to you until you can remember me again. I could never ever leave you alone Natsu, please trust me on this: you are my best friend, my unconventional hero, the most important person in my life and I l..." she stopped, biting hard on her tongue.

"You what?" the boy asked confused.

"Nothing. It's not important right now" she said dismissively, letting her hands drop and trying to think of a way to change the flow of the conversation.

"What? No! It's not fair...I hate when people do this" he pouted.

She looked at him, long and hard. She _did_ want to tell him, she knew she did, but her words were not for the Natsu that was currently in front of her. They were for his adult self and for his ears only.

"I will tell you when you grow up" she finished simply, smiling.

She felt it as soon as the words left her lips, the magic charging the air around them, the power emanating from somewhere close by.

A bright blue aura enveloped the little boy and she had to use her hands to shield her eyes from the bright explosion of light.

When she looked back, the one seated in front of her was her usual adult-sized dragonslayer.

"Natsu!" she cried throwing her arms around his neck.

"Uh... hey Luce, what's up?" he said a little confused "everything okay?"

"Of course I'm okay" the blonde mage reproached him moving away to better look at him. "What about you? How do you feel?"

"I'm great, thanks for asking. I just had this weird dream... Happy and I were hanging out at your flat and you were inexplicably angry about something and then there was a strange bug that..." he trailed off, looking from left to right and finally taking in his surroundings.

"Uuhh, Luce? Where are we? What happened?" he asked standing up.

She made a gurgling sound, not knowing if she should feel relieved or pissed off. She looked him in the eyes and briefly toyed with the idea of telling him everything, but then all the day's events came crashing back down and she felt too tired.

"I... we... we were just talking" she told him instead, grabbing the hand that he was offering to pick herself up.

"About what?"

"Mmm? Sorry?"

"We were talking about what?"

"Er, things" she mentally cringed, but her brain was about to shut down from overexertion.

"That's a little vague" he frowned unhappy.

He looked like a child pouting and her heart skipped a beat. _What the heck, why not?_ She thought.

"I was saying that I love you" she rushed out and then held her breath.

Natsu just stared at her blankly for a couple of second before exploding in one of his wide grins "I love you too Luce" he answered merrily.

The stellar spirit mage exhaled noisily, feeling just a little bit deflated. He was her Natsu after all: trust this airhead not to get it at the first try.

"Well, thank you. Even if I'm inclined to bet that _my_ love and _your_ love are slightly different" she told him, resigned.

"Really?" he asked puzzled.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure they are, but it doesn't matter. Not right now, at least. We can discuss it some other day, when things are a little less crazy."

Because she would surely tell him one of this days, she had decided on this and she was not backing down. So what if the first time didn't go well? She just had to keep on telling him until he got the meaning right.

"Mmm" he didn't look convinced and started to scrutinize her face "I love you like Alzac loves Bisca, what about you?"

He grinned again at her shocked expression. "I thought as much. Well, now that everything is settled..." he grabbed her hand and started walking back towards Magnolia, dragging a still slack-jawed Lucy behind "Let's go to the guild and pick up Happy. I'm sure he is worried sick. Or maybe furious, but I think I can manage to win him back with some fish. A salmon, maybe. Do we have salmon in our house Luce? Maybe we should buy it, just in case".

They were already halfway to the town's centre when Lucy managed to snap out of her stupor and cry indignantly "It's _my_ _house_!" before he swiftly kissed her.


End file.
